i88 EXTINCT MONSTERS 



from lizards, possessing, as usual, four legs ; that some primitive 

 form of lizard with very small legs appeared on the scene, and 

 found that it could better move along by wriggling its body and 

 pushing with its ribs than by walking. So, in course of time, 

 a race of lizards without legs arose; these, by Natural Selection, 

 and perhaps other means, became more and more elongated, so 

 that they could move faster than their ancestors, and glide out 

 of harm's way more effectually. Thus was the snake evolved 

 from a lizard. 



Now, in the great geological museum of the stratified rocks, 

 there have been discovered skeletons of marine reptiles, which 

 propelled themselves chiefly by means of their tails and elongated 

 bodies, rather than by their limbs. The limbs were not discarded 

 entirely as in the case of the serpents, but were useful in their 

 way as the fins of fishes are. Perhaps, therefore, we may be 

 justified in calling these ancient monsters sea-serpents, in con- 

 sideration of their long thin bodies ; for they certainly would be 

 called by that name if now living, and their skulls are very much 

 like those of a modern lizard known as Varanus. 



Strictly speaking, they were not serpents, but more or less like 

 some of the extinct saurians described in Chap. V. The name, 

 however, has been adopted by geologists, and is useful in so 

 far as it serves to remind us of their very peculiar shape and 

 structure. Eemains of these strange creatures have been found 

 both in Europe, North and South America, and New Zealand. 



One of the earliest discoveries of remains of a fossil sea-serpent 

 was made by M. Hoffmann, a Dutch military surgeon, in the year 

 1770. Maestricht, a city in the interior of the Netherlands, 

 situated in the valley of the Meuse, stands on certain strata of 

 limestone and sandstone, belonging to the Upper Chalk. Exten- 

 sive quarries have, for many centuries, been worked in the 



